Connecting B2B standards life cycles with stakeholders

Business-to-Business (B2B) is one of the areas getting more and more attention in terms of inter-organisational co-operation. In B2B, numerous transactions and communication flows take place between organisations and disparate systems. A standards-based approach is common in this respect. A B2B standard is defined as guidelines for how communication and information sent between organisations should be structured and managed (Söderström, 2004). Such standards are implemented between several partners as a means to achieve a common language, increased integration between systems, and increased automation. The standards undergo a number of activities and phases during their existence, much like “regular” IT and information systems. The series of activities and phase are often referred to as a life cycle.